Women's Rugby

Rugby Advances to Elite Eight Play with Win Over Hamilton

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – The Bowdoin women's rugby team advanced to the Elite Eight in ACRA play after knocking off Hamilton 39-22 this afternoon on Vassar's campus.

The Polar Bears improve to 9-1 on the season and look to play tomorrow at 11:00 A.M. against Kutztown University. Today's game was the closest contest Bowdoin has seen since its lone loss of the season to Tufts back in September.

The Continentals and Polar Bears traded possession during the opening ten minutes of play. Momentum turned in Bowdoin's favor around the 14th minute, as the team was able to maintain possession through several phases of play. Samantha Hoegle looped around her backline and received the ball before outsprinting Hamilton's defense to touch it down and break the deadlock. Hamilton answered right back, scoring a try of their own in the 24th minute, tying the score at 5 all. Hoegle tallied her second try of the game just six minutes later to recapture the lead. Bowdoin moved the ball down the field utilizing speed and wide angles to combat the strong Hamilton defense, resulting in a ruck in front of the posts. Amanda Montenegro dove through space to touch the ball down, which Addison Carvajal then converted on. Hamilton converted on a penalty try, but was quickly countered with another Bowdoin score by Carvajal.

The Polar Bears came out in the second half and scored three more times. Paige Pfannenstiel, Maura Allen, and Emily Athanas-Linden all scored with Carvajal converting on Pfannenstiel's play. Hamilton countered with two scores in the second, one of which came after time had expired.